The state came in sight in the distance in the clear day. It was freezing cold in Liberty, and was probably going to be extremely hot in Venturas. "This is your captain speaking. We are now entering Las Venturas airspace, we will be landing in just a bit."
Tommy looked over at Ken, who was shaking, trembling. "Ken, are you okay?"
"Y-yeah, T-Tommy… I-I-I'm fine."
Slowly they made their way north of Venturas, then started loosing altitude as the approached runway sixty-nine heading south. Music played softly, easing the situation, especially for people like Ken. "I could feel at the time, There was no way of knowing, Fallen leaves in the night, Who can say where they're blowing, As free as the wind, And hopefully learning, Why the sea on the tide," and so on the eighty's song continued.
Although it seemed as if they were picking up speed, they seemed to stay at the same speed. The thrusters shouted on the way down. Once they actually hit the ground, things started shaking up a bit, with the soft music still playing in the background. Slowly the plane moved to its position, and by fifteen minutes later, the flight was over.
Tommy, Claude, Phil, Ken, and Mario were the first group out. "Welcome to Las Venturas baby." Tommy announced as they made their way through the gate. They made they're way into the lobby, then to retrieve their baggage.
Connor, Toni, and Stephen were the second group to exit the plane. "This is Las Venturas? You've got to be kidding me. I thought there'd be like, lights and casinos. And strip clubs, you know? This place sucks." Stephen said as they entered the lobby, looking around. Connor and Toni rolled their eyes.
"Dumbass," Connor said under his breathe.
Finally, Max and Pierce started out the gate, they got their baggage (staying out of the Mafia's sight) and headed outside. Pierce started to worry, as there was no sign of the police cruiser they requested. "Uh, Max, where's our car?"
Max looked around, pedestrians pushing each other out of the way, racing for taxis, but no sign of the police cruiser. On started to drive up in the distance, Max pointed, Pierce let out a sigh of relief. As it drove up, man dressed in blue jeans and a red jacket opened a taxi door and threw out the driver. He got in and sped off, the police cruiser turned on his siren and they were gone into the distance.
"No way." Max said, when it suddenly dawned on him, he put his hands on his face, "God, damn it Pierce, I thought I told you to call LVPD to tell them that our flight was coming in early."
It suddenly dawned on Pierce, "No fucking way. God damn it." Pierce took out his cell phone and dialed LVPD.
"I'm telling you Tommy, Tommy? Tommy, I was so scared, I almost crapped my pants." Ken was talking to Tommy as they headed for the exit.
Tommy was getting irritated by Ken, "Ken! I don't give a shit about a scary movie you saw! Now, we need to find those cars we rented… Aha! The parking lot." The group followed Tommy.
Connors escort was out front, a white limo with black trim, Connor didn't really like it but it was a limo. Behind and in front of the limo were Patriot hummers, with only drivers; the Mafia loaded up in them while Toni, Connor, Stephen and the driver occupied the limo.
Max and Pierce were standing farthest south, they saw the Limo drive past them. Max spotted the limo, "Ah, shit! No! No! No! God damn it. Now we have to fuckin' find them. You get a hold of that station yet?"
"We're sorry, the number you called has been disconnected" a voice said.
"Oh, disconnected my ass! I'll show you disconnected!" Pierce hung up the phone.
Max could easily tell he didn't get though. Max glanced into cars as they passed, he spotted Tommy Vercetti and Claude Speed in a car, a navy blue Admiral, and a white Premier followed them. Every cop who has been in the Vice City area has seen Tommy's face on the wall at VCPD, back in 1985, when Max worked there. Oh well. Max dismissed it.
A ring came from Max's pocket, "Hello?" Max answered it.
"Hey Max, it's Joey."
"Oh hey, Joey what's up?"
"Why did you guys leave early?"
"Our flight was bumped up."
"Damn it, you gave me a scare over here. Listen, Max. There has been no sign of the JCF anymore, I drove around earlier, it's like they completely abandoned he city." Joey explained.
"How can that be?"
"I don't know, but I think someone is following me, a brown Washington I can't seem to get out of my rear view mirror. I'm gonna catch a flight to Venturas, okay?"
"No-no you aren't. We had a talk about this the other day, it's too dangerous for you down here."
"You kidding me? I think that guy must be an assassin. Max, someone's out to get me, and I think I'd be more safe over the- No way! It's snowing dude!"
"They bumped our flight up, Francis International must be delaying their other flights."
"I know another guy, has his own plane. Listen, I'll get a ride to your hotel, where are you staying at?"
"The Visage, floor eight, room one-o-three."
"Okay, thanks. Talk to ya later." Max hung up the phone.
"So, what's the word, any updates?" Max asked.
"I've tried like eight times, it says it disconnected." Pierce replied, frustratingly.
"Okay, we'll get a cab to go pick up the cruiser, come on."
Tommy and Claude were driving down the strip, with Phil, Ken and Mario just behind them. The song "Roller coaster of love" was on the radio and booming. Claude and Tommy enjoyed the sights as they drove past the famous casinos and hotels, restaurants and bars, until they reached the end of the strip in the intense traffic. The headed up north, and when they finally arrived, they were at a small apartment complex, a block west of Yellow Bell Golf Course.
The group of five entered their apartment. It was in a fairly good condition, nice couch, a pretty small but still good TV. Okay bathrooms, and two nice looking beds. Tommy opened the door and threw the keys on a small desk to the left. "Make yourselves at home, this is where we're going to be staying for like the next week."
"This-this place looks good. TV's a fraction of the size we have in Vice City, but it's still okay. It seems a little claustrophobic to me." said Ken.
"That's just because this is a hotel room, not a mansion, or apartment, plus we have five people in here, come on." Tommy replied.
Phil started laughing. He sitting on the bed bouncing up and down like a child. "For Christ's sake Phil, quite messing around." Phil stopped, glaring at Tommy with a sort of frown.
Phil got up and walked into the bathroom, whispering under his breathe, "Hard ass."
Tommy ignored the comment. "So, we saw their vehicles parking at Caligula's Casino, so we know that that is where they are staying… or where they work… one or the other. So let's spend the rest of the day relaxing and do whatever we want." Tommy ordered, everyone shook their heads, including Phil, who came out of the bathroom.
By midday, Max and Pierce had their cruiser parked out in the Visage's parking lot. They got into their room (which was very nice), and started getting to work. Max was sitting at the desk, looking at a map of Venturas, marking on it while Pierce was laying on the comfortable bed.
"What about Caligula's?" Pierce asked.
"I doubt it, but it's a start. We've really got no other leads of anywhere else they should be. But there is a meat factory on the other side of town."
"I say we check Caligula's first, I have a feeling about it." Max stood up and turned around.
"Get the keys, let's go." he ordered. Pierce started out after him. They took the elevator down into the casino. The casino floor was huge, the carpets a sort of red and whit mixture, machines everywhere, tables everywhere, in the easternmost corner, there was even an area above that had the high stakes players, overlooking the entire casino (which took up two-three regular floors).
As they walked through, the sensation to play grew large and larger. Pierce could barely contain himself, but Max made sure he didn't do anything stupid. The room was loud, people chattering all over the place, machines were ringing, people were screaming, dealers were talking, music was coming out of various speakers in the room. It was a wonderful casino.
When they opened the door to the outside, the light was blinding. They could see the heat off in the distance, rising off of the ground. The sun was in the middle of the sky, a big bright yellow dot, with no clouds to block it out. It must have been ninety degrees out, a very big change to what Liberty was like earlier. They got into their cruiser and drove over to Caligula's. They sat outside with binoculars and cameras, no signs of Mafia.
Eventually they had been there for a hour, the car was steaming hot and they had to get out. They were parked outside the Pirates in Men's Pants. Max wiped the sweat off of his face and went to put some water on him, from the little moat they had going. Pierce imitated Max. They continued their investigation without talking for the next thirty minutes.
Max and Pierce were getting tired of this. "Just think Max, if they're in there, in that air conditioned, cool casino, while were out here, looking at the buildings… Doing nothin' in this hundred degree heat."
Max ignored him, then he spotted someone coming out of the casino. He hit Pierce on the arm, who wasn't paying attention. Through the binoculars, it looked like Connor and some other guy were talking, Max snapped a few photos for analyzing.
In front of Caligula's stood Connor and Nicoletti Cruz. "So, I really appreciate what you are doing, Cruz."
"Is no problem, Connor." Nicoletti replied with an accent.
"So, I'll go take car of this little 'job' for you." Connor smiled and walked out to a black Patriot. He got in and drove off.
"Should we follow him?" Pierce asked.
"Probably, yeah. But a Police cruiser isn't the best thing for tracking a criminal in. But oh well, it will have to do, let's go."
They followed Connor through Northern Las Venturas, but because they were staying pretty far behind him, the lost him in Eastern Venturas, in a residential area called White Wood Estates. The drove around that area looking for him, but they didn't locate him. After driving around in circle for a while, they gave up, and when they were about to exit the area, they saw a black Patriot pull out of a driveway.
Max decided against following Connor and pulled up in the driveway, because the door handle was broken off, thus it looked like the house was broken into. Max and Pierce got out, ready to flash their badges, while also gripping their pistols. They entered the house in extreme caution.
Nothing seemed wrong, but as the continued to search the house, in one bedroom they found some blood stains. The further they searched, the more cautious they got. They entered the bathroom to find a man in the tub, filled up with steaming water, a bag over his head, and a cut on his throat. The tub was a crimson red.
"Go call LVPD. Tell them what we found." Max ordered.
"If the call even goes through." Pierce replied. When pierce hit redial, he noticed that he had dialed the wrong number, it was 4262, not 4292. He must have pushed the wrong number by mistake. He felt stupid and didn't tell Max.